‘Never just a local war’: explaining the failure of a mayor’s recall referendum

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe November 2017 referendum for the recall of Dorin Chirtoacă, Mayor of Chișinău (Moldova), largely failed because of the citizens’ low turnout. Why do recall referendums fail and, in particular, why was this boycott strategy successful? My assumption is that the referendum was perceived not only as a tool to eliminate a major political competitor and thus weaken the anti-presidential opposition, but also as a wider attempt to gain extensive political control. I will use secondary data and data obtained from a focus-group research in order to show that the following factors determined the outcome of the boycott: the popular mistrust of institutions and parties, the perceived decisive importance of the Capital’s control nationwide, the citizens’ will to prevent the concentration of power, and the perception of the broader geopolitical stakes of the recall.